


the only thing that matters

by Rosethewriter, yamagusheep



Category: Free!
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst with a Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Violence, Omega Verse, POV Multiple, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-25
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-09-02 02:02:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8647456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosethewriter/pseuds/Rosethewriter, https://archiveofourown.org/users/yamagusheep/pseuds/yamagusheep
Summary: "There was someone Nitori had never seen before--he was tall and broad-shouldered. He had black hair and blue eyes like the ocean. He was gorgeous. Nitori blushed and looked to their advisor who started speaking, introducing the newcomer to them. Then, the new guy spoke, and Nitori swore he fell in love."





	1. Chapter 1

_ Goodness, swimming is hard. Pushing myself is even harder _ , Nitori Aiichirou thought. All he wanted to do was get better. He wanted to be like Rin and swim in the same events as his senpai, but he knew his limits; he would never be able to. As soon as he finished the 200m workout, Nitori held on to the edge of the pool and caught his breath. For some reason, he felt more tired than usual and he didn’t feel like himself. He usually had a faster time than what he just completed. His stomach was aching, although he doesn’t recall overeating or not eating at all. He was starting to feel hot, too…. He clambered out of the pool and laid on his stomach on the deck. He took deep breaths to try and calm the cramping that started feeling worse every second.

“Hey, you okay there, Nitori?” Captain Mikoshiba asked, popping a squat next to Nitori. The captain looked down at the first-year, feeling his forehead for fever. He was unusually hot. Nitori only grumbled and whimpered in response. His stomach was  _ really  _ starting to hurt, and his body felt like it was on fire, especially his hip. 

Nitori let out a whimper as the burning sensation intensified. He curled into a tight ball and tried to touch his hip to try and ease the stabbing pain. He let out a hiss as the pain sharpened. Mikoshiba started to smell him--he was going into his heat, for the first time. Nitori was presenting as an Omega. 

“Oh, crap, Nitori. We have to get you to your room,” the captain murmured, mostly to himself. He quickly gathered the newly-presented omega into his arms and hurried to the exit of the pool. As soon as Mikoshiba and Nitori passed Rin, Nitori’s roommate, Rin’s confused face was wiped away and replaced with understanding. 

Rin followed along behind Mikoshiba and Nitori as they made their way toward the dorm buildings. Rin growled at any of the nearby alphas who looked their way; they deemed it too much effort and stayed away. Rin wasn’t Nitori’s mate, and they weren’t anything more than just friends, but Nitori knew that Rin would protect him from harm. Even in his haze, the silver-haired boy marvelled at the self-control the two alphas had. He was glad he could trust his friend and his captain.

They arrived at the dorm building and hurried to Rin and Nitori’s room. Rin unlocked the door and held it open for Mikoshiba so he could carry Nitori in. Now that the three were confined in a smaller room, Nitori’s scent started to surround them and was a lot more concentrated. Mikoshiba placed Nitori on Rin’s bed, since it was easier than climbing up to place the boy on the top bunk. The two alphas quickly left, already half-tempted by Nitori’s fresh scent, heavy and thick in the air. 

Nitori’s felt like he was being submerged in boiling hot lava and all he wanted was an alpha. His body was craving the touch of an alpha and for that alpha to fill him up, make the heat go away for at least a minute. He imagined the perfect alpha, and all that came to mind was Rin, his crush. Nitori writhed in pain, his body still wet from swim practice. He could feel a different wetness run down his thighs; it must have been slick. The next wetness Nitori felt was his tears, streaming steadily down his face as he whimpered and tried to pleasure himself, but to no avail. His fingers were not enough for his heat. 

The rest of the night was a blur of pain and hunger for an alpha, and so was the rest of his heat, which lasted three and a half days. No one visited him, but at points when his heat did die down for a few seconds, he would find bottles of water at the door. Thank goodness--he knew how much he needed it when he could think clearly. 

When Nitori’s heat ended, he remembered how his hip burned more than anything else, and he suddenly pulled his underwear down to look at the mark on his hip. When someone presented, a mark, in jet black, would appear on a part of the body. Their soulmate would have the same mark in the same place. Nitori’s happened to be small, and he smiled when he saw the little heart; no filling, just an outline. It was much simpler than he imagined, and much simpler than some of the other marks he had seen on his teammates. He knew, however, that he was, indeed, not Rin’s soulmate. Rin’s mark was large, very noticeable, and on his shoulder. Nitori’s chest hurt when he thought about it, but he had already taught himself to be content with that fact. He had already assumed that he just wasn’t the alpha’s mate. Nitori sighed, his heart feeling a little more deflated than it was before, and got up to shower, leaving the thought of he and Rin behind.

 

That was a year ago when Nitori presented. Now, he was used to his heats and handling them alone. Currently, Nitori was at practice, the team gathered around to listen to their advisor, Sugimoto, and captain, Rin, speak. There was someone Nitori had never seen before--he was tall and broad-shouldered. He had black hair and blue eyes like the ocean. He was  _ gorgeous.  _ Nitori blushed and looked to their advisor who started speaking, introducing the newcomer to them. Then, he spoke, and Nitori swore he fell in love. 

“I’m Yamazaki Sousuke. I transferred here from Tokitsu High School in Tokyo.” Their advisor introduced Sousuke further, mentioning that he was ranked top ten in butterfly in the country. 

Then, when he took off his clothes to swim, Nitori understood why. He had lean, toned muscles in all the right places. He looked up and down his body for a mark, but he couldn’t find one. He would put that in the back of his mind. He gathered all of his confidence and pride and marched over the the new swimmer. “So this is a nationally ranked swimmers’ perfect body!” Sousuke looked over at the smaller omega. 

“N-Nice to meet you! I’m Nitori Aiichirou, second-year. Welcome to our team!” Nitori bowed and when he looked up, Sousuke was glaring at him. He let out a small yelp before Sousuke’s frown turned into a warm smile. 

“Nice to meet you, too.” When Sousuke spoke, Nitori instantly started smiling again, striking up a conversation about the high school Sousuke transferred from. Nitori couldn’t believe himself, talking so casually to one of the hottest guys he had ever seen. He could smell the alpha on him; he smelled really good, like pine and lemons; he smelled like the place where Nitori wanted to be. Nitori tried to ignore it but the scent was overpowering and comforting at the same time. He wanted to wrap himself up in Sousuke’s scent forever and never let it leave his senses. 

Nitori’s thoughts were interrupted when Rin called out for everyone to start warm ups. He watched Sousuke dive in and start with butterfly.  _ Wow, he is so fast, _ Nitori thought as he admired the swimmer. He shook himself out of his thoughts and started his own warm ups, focusing hard on breaststroke and freestyle. He wanted to specialize in two strokes, just like Rin. He knew it would be even harder now that he presented as an omega. They weren’t taken as seriously as betas and alphas, but he would prove himself. He would work harder and longer everyday if he had to. 

And so practice ended and Nitori couldn’t help but keep thinking of Sousuke and those beautiful eyes of his. If only he were his alpha; if only they had matching marks….


	2. Chapter 2

**_i._   _nitori_ **

It had been a few months since Nitori first met Sousuke, and thus, it had been an agonizing few months for the omega. He wanted Sousuke. He was sweet to him, he had helped him with his swimming, and he was really, _really_ attractive. He was the only thing Nitori could think about during his recent heats. Even if they weren’t soulmates, Nitori wanted to get a piece of that (read: Nitori wanted to suck Sousuke’s dick, or something along those lines).

And so the only answer to his problem was to flirt with Sousuke. He knew he was horrible at it, but it was worth a shot. Maybe this time it would actually work (he highly doubted it). Nitori would carry his plan out after practice; he would try to be subtle (in the back of his mind, he knew that “subtle” meant “painfully obvious” in his case). He’d go up to Sousuke, real casually, and ask him if he could help him with his swimming after practice. Then… well, Nitori didn’t plan that far ahead. He was going to wing it, much like he did with everything else. However, if he and Sousuke were alone, that would make it ten times easier for the anxious omega.

Practice that day went smoothly until Nitori walked up to Sousuke and his heart started suddenly racing. “Um, Sousuke, would you mind staying to help me out some more with my technique?” the omega asked shyly, looking up at the alpha who was drying his face with a towel. Nitori could feel the blush dusting over his cheeks as he thought about all the things he wanted to do with Sousuke.

“Ah-- yeah, sure.” Sousuke answered as he finished towel drying his hair.

Nitori bounced on his toes in excitement, yet he knew his excitement would be overcome with nerves. He just _had_ to tell Sousuke how he felt, and he would try his best to succeed by the end of the day at least.

When the team cleared out, only Nitori and Sousuke were left. The latter was sitting on the side of the pool, still in his swim gear, watching the former swim. Sousuke would tell him what he needed to fix; what he could do to improve his times; what Nitori could do to become an all-around better swimmer. Nitori was forever grateful for Sousuke’s help. He knew that Sousuke didn’t have to help him; he _was_ an omega, after all. As an omega, he had to work harder than everyone to earn his spot on the team. Nitori knew that Sousuke had to see some sort of potential in him, he had to favor him somewhat, whether it be for their relay team or individually.

After the end of their short training session, Sousuke followed Nitori into the locker room, giving him advice on his techniques and the little things that he couldn’t perfect physically, but mentally and with lots of practice. The two were left with a comfortable silence between them as Nitori threw on a hoodie and turned to Sousuke with determination. Sousuke raised one of his eyebrows in question of Nitori’s behavior.

“S-Sousuke, um,” Nitori began, stuttering over his _planned_ words. _Dammit, Aiichirou, get yourself together!_ he thought. He was horrid with flirting, with confrontation. The omega just wanted to tell Sousuke how he really felt, how attracted he was to the alpha. He gripped the edge of his hoodie and looked at Sousuke pointedly.

“I like you, Sousuke. A lot. A-and your body, you’re really attractive a-and nice, and…” Nitori trailed off. He said what he needed to and more.

There was silence. And realization on Sousuke’s face. Nitori didn’t want to hear his response.

“Nitori... I’m sorry,” Sousuke said quietly before he turned and left.

Nitori stood there in silence, watching the locker room door swing shut and close with a loud click. How could he think there could possibly be any other outcome than this? He should’ve known; Sousuke was too nice. He didn’t treat anyone differently no matter if they were an omega, beta or an alpha. Nitori should’ve known, Sousuke didn’t like him like that, he was just nice. Nitori now knew that Sousuke wouldn’t feel anything other than friendship for him, just by the sad expression he gave Nitori before leaving him to stand alone in the locker room.

Nitori felt even emptier than he did during his loneliest heat and was left with the feeling of the need to cry.

 

**_ii. sousuke_ **

**** Sousuke left the locker room as quickly as he could without trying to be mean, even though he probably came across as such. He just didn’t know what else to do or say to the omega. If Nitori only wanted sex, he was not going to let himself succumb to it that easily. He wanted to find his mate because he knew that he had someone out there that he had to protect and take care of. He didn’t have time to screw other people or play pretend, even if he _did_ like them. And he liked Nitori, but he just couldn’t allow himself to, not like that at least.

Sousuke could feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest as he hurried down the halls towards his dorm room. He felt bad for rejecting Nitori, but he didn’t have a choice. All he hoped for was that their friendship wasn’t ruined because of the confession.

It wasn’t until their next swim practice after that Sunday that the two had to see each other. Sousuke didn’t know what to expect from the younger boy he (unfortunately) rejected. He hoped that they could put it all behind them, and just continue on like nothing had happened in the first place. That’s what he was going to try, anyway.

     Whenever Sousuke tried talking to Nitori, the latter would either ignore him with a dark blush covering his cheeks, or stammer out some stupid excuse and get away from him as fast as he could, always in the opposite direction. Sousuke tried apologizing to Nitori multiple times but the omega wouldn’t have it, and would disappear before Sousuke could finish. That went on for days, and everyone around them clearly wondered what had happened.

     Weeks of practice passed and the pattern continued, except Nitori was so obviously avoiding the alpha that it made Sousuke a little irritated. Was Nitori just embarrassed? Had Nitori started hating Sousuke? He hoped not. Sousuke still thought there was a connection between them, even if it wasn’t romantic or sexual. He knew that they could be great friends, if only Nitori could get past his rejection or his feelings that were deeper than platonic.

Sousuke also wasn’t the only one who had noticed the rift between the two. Rin had brought it up multiple times, but Sousuke just brushed him off every time saying it wasn’t anything important, or that it didn’t involve him. Rin would get upset and storm off to do whatever he did when he got pissed, and Sousuke would do the same.

Sousuke was angry that Nitori had taken it so roughly, he was angry at himself that he had been so mean (even though at first he thought he wasn’t _that_ awful), he was angry that he couldn’t have the relaxed mentor-student relationship they had before, and he was angry that he couldn’t fix it all. Overall, Sousuke was just disappointed and mad at the situation around him.

At the end of practice a few weeks after the incident, the team was in the locker room as per usual, changing and joking around with each other like teams did. Sousuke remained quiet as he dried off, thinking to himself, still, about the whole Nitori thing. Sousuke’s locker happened to be adjacent to the set where Nitori’s was. He kept sneaking furtive glances at Nitori, looking at the omega he wanted to befriend once again. He was tired of all the useless drama.

Sousuke changed out of his jammers and pulled his sweatpants up to his waist and slid his school jacket up over his arms and shoulders. He went to give Nitori one last look when something dark caught his eye as the boy pulled his boxers up.

 _Holy shit_ . Sousuke stared at the mark, peeking out at him from Nitori’s hip. _Holy. Mother. Fucking. Shit. No way._ There was a little heart, outlined in black, that matched Sousuke’s own, in the exact same spot, in the exact same shape.

They were soulmates.


	3. Chapter 3

**_i. sousuke_ **

Sousuke was  _ freaking out.  _ What was he supposed to do? Go up to Nitori, force him to listen, and claim out of nowhere that they were soulmates?  _ Hell no.  _ The alpha zoomed out of the locker room, looking for Rin, his best friend. He knew that Rin had left the locker room earlier, but wasn’t sure where he could find him. 

Sousuke decided to head toward their dorm room first. Even if Rin wasn’t there he could as least collect himself for a bit before going out to search some more or wait until the redhead got back. His mind was still reeling. His omega was Nitori; he had to protect him now, but he had been the one to hurt him. He felt so bad, and he should have listened to his instinct that told him they had a connection somehow. 

Sousuke quickly unlocked his room’s door, entered as fast as he possibly could, before slamming the door shut behind himself. He scanned the room quickly before his eyes landed on his alpha roommate. He dropped his bag beside the door and took three long quick strides so he was standing right in front of Rin, who was chilling on the bottom bunk.

“Rin--holy shit, you’ll never guess,” Sousuke said breathlessly. 

“What?” Rin asked, looking up briefly at Sousuke before looking back down at his phone.

“N-Nitori is my soulmate, dude! Holy shit. Oh my god.” Saying it out loud made the reality even clearer. He couldn’t believe it. “And it’s so fucked up-- I rejected his confession like three weeks ago! And, shit, now I have to fix it. And he won’t talk to me. Fuck.” Sousuke put his face in his hands.

“Wait, Nitori confessed to you?!” Rin sat up from his slouched position on the bed. “Is that why you guys were being so awkward and avoiding each other? What the hell, why didn’t you tell me?” He paused for a moment and then asked, mostly to himself, “Why didn’t Nitori tell me? Now you  _ have _ to tell me everything.”

Sousuke did so. He was talking frantically because he was so caught up in the fact that Nitori refused to talk or listen to him. 

In the end, Rin still had advice for Sousuke’s fuck up. “Sousuke, you just have to prove yourself as an acceptable alpha or get him to listen. With Ai, the first option is probably your best.”

“I guess you’re right,” Sousuke said letting out a sigh. “I have to go find him.” 

Rin went back to playing on his phone, letting out a soft scoff as Sousuke rushed out of the room, letting the door slam behind him. He strode across the hallway to Nitori and Momotarou’s, his new roommate’s, room. He knocked, hoping that Nitori would be there. Momo answered the door, looking up at Sousuke with a raised brow. 

“Is Nitori here?” Sousuke asked quickly. 

“Not yet,” Momo said slowly. “Why?” 

“I just need to talk to him as soon as possible. Please, it’s really important.” 

“Alright… I’ll tell him you came to see him.” 

Sousuke thanked Momo quickly before he turned and headed down the hall in search of Nitori. His heart was still beating rapidly in his chest ever since he saw the mark on the omega’s hip. He wanted to look at it again, compare it to his own just to be completely sure they were mates. He also really wanted to kiss it, being that he was 99.9% sure already. He wanted to protect Nitori. 

It felt like forever until Momo texted Sousuke, alerting him that Nitori was finally back to his dorm. Sousuke climbed down from his bunk and went back over to try and speak with his omega.  _ His. _ It sounded so good to him. 

He knocked again and this time, Nitori answered. “A-ah, Sousuke! Why are you here?” 

“We need to talk, please, Nitori,” Sousuke said firmly.

“Oh, well, um,” Nitori stammered, “I gotta-- I gotta go take my pie out of the oven! Talk to you later!” And the door was slammed in his face. 

Sousuke knocked again, this time a little louder than before. Momo answered nervously. 

“Can I please talk to Nitori?” Sousuke looked over Momo’s head, trying to get a look at Nitori in his dorm. He couldn’t find him.

“He’s not here, sorry!” Momo said loudly. He shut the door and Sousuke growled.  _ Goddammit. _

Again and again Nitori would make up excuses or avoid Sousuke at literally all costs. He’d disappear right after swim practice, not even going to the locker room to change afterwards. Sousuke was starting to get angry. Why wouldn’t he just listen? 

One day, not too long after Sousuke attempted to talk to Nitori, he was jogging around campus on his day off. He was focused, blasting music, just so he didn’t think of Nitori and his mark and what it all meant. Of course, when he slowed on his second time around, he spotted Nitori, of all people. He came to a full stop and watched from afar. Nitori was just standing there in his normal everyday clothes, looking down at his phone. It looked as if he was waiting for someone. 

Sousuke sat down behind the tree that was so conveniently placed for him. He watched and waited for a little bit and along came someone tall; much bigger than Nitori. Sousuke squinted. Even from where he was sitting he could smell the other alpha confronting Nitori. He could tell that this stranger was cocky and arrogant just from his smell. Sousuke could feel himself start to boil with jealousy. What could this alpha possibly want with Nitori? Nitori was  _ his _ mate, the alpha had no business coming up to Nitori like that.

Sousuke stood up from his spot angrily, as the other alpha came up to Nitori and greeted him like they knew each other, and Nitori seemed like he knew the other closely. The other alpha then placed his hand on the small of Nitori’s back, which was  _ way _ too close to the omega’s butt. 

Sousuke felt all rationality leave him as he stormed his way towards the two, emitting his scent as far out as it could possibly go. He tried to overpower the other alpha. Nitori and the unknown guy looked over at Sousuke as he approached. Nitori’s face warped and he stepped back as Sousuke threw his arm back and slammed the alpha’s face with his fist. There was no stopping him now.

 

**_ii. nitori_ **

Just before Sousuke appeared to fight his current hook-up, Nitori was sitting in Rin’s dorm room, listening to the elder lecture him about ignoring Sousuke. He had to sit and listen to Rin talk about how he should just be nice to Sousuke, even if he didn’t want to talk to him or anything. How if they talked and made up from their arguement, good things would unfold.

“Rin, you’re not my mom,” Nitori had said. He subsequently left the room and the dorm building. He had already called his hook-up, some guy that was in Soccer Club. His name was Akihisa. He was extremely tall and quite attractive, but not Nitori’s type (which happened to be anything that resembled Sousuke). He had a nice dick, though, and that’s all Nitori cared for at the moment. He just needed someone to get him through his upcoming heat. 

So they met up and as soon as Akihisa laid a hand on Nitori, Sousuke came from nowhere, throwing hands. Nitori took a step back with a yelp, not wanting to get hit, and yelling at Sousuke.

“Sousuke, stop! What the fuck are you doing?” 

Neither alpha heard him, and soon enough, Sousuke’s scent was so overwhelming that Nitori felt dizzy. Sousuke, beating the other to a pulp on the ground, stood and spit blood from a split lip he had gotten from the only punch Akihisa could throw. Sousuke looked Nitori over before grabbing his wrist and pulling him away from the other alpha. Nitori couldn’t resist even if he wanted to, Sousuke’s scent too strong and pervading for him to do anything other than follow whatever the alpha told him to do.

Once the two got to a safe spot, far away from the other alpha, Sousuke pulled down his pants just past his hips so he could show Nitori his mark. 

“Gross! I don’t want to see your dick! I mean I do, but not right now!” Nitori exclaimed, covering his eyes. 

“Nitori,  _ look _ , please.” Sousuke pleaded, he reached for one of Nitori’s hands and slowly removed it from its spot on Nitori’s face. Nitori crumbled under pressure and removed his hands, letting the one stay placed in Sousuke’s grip. His hands were so warm and big. He looked down at Sousuke’s hips and his mouth dropped. 

“O-Oh. Oh my god, really?” Nitori fumbled with his own pants as he pulled the waist down to reveal his own mark, the perfect replica of Sousuke’s. He felt like crying, but laughing too. He was so happy. So many thoughts ran through his head. He was stupid for ignoring Sousuke this whole time, he was so dumb for getting with other alphas. He felt so guilty, now that he knew Sousuke, his dream alpha, was actually  _ his. _ Nitori didn’t know what to do, so he just looked up at Sousuke with a smile and squeezed the hand he was still holding onto tightly. 

“How long have you known?” 

“Almost two weeks, Nitori. I’ve tried telling you-- and I regret rejecting you. I knew I liked you. I just wanted to find my mate, and I guess I should have said yes. I’m sorry.” Sousuke squeezed Nitori’s hand back.

“S-So, can we be mates now? Like, for real?” Nitori asked anxiously. 

“Of course!” Sousuke leaned down, cupped Nitori’s face in his hands, and gave him a kiss that he had wanted to give him for a long time. 

 

**_the end._ **


End file.
